This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Ear tags are conventionally used in a wide variety of applications to identify and differentiate between animals. Ear tags are typically inserted into and through an ear of an animal and may include a number or other marking identifying the particular animal. The number or other marking can be applied by an ear-tag manufacturer prior to packaging or, alternatively, can be applied on-site by the end user prior to or following installation of the ear tag. If the number or marking is applied to the ear tags by the ear-tag manufacturer, care must be taken to ensure that the ear tags remain in sequential order throughout assembly, packaging, and delivery to allow the end user to sequentially tag animals, if desired.
Ear-tag manufacturers typically maintain proper sequencing of ear tags following assembly by attaching sequenced tags to so-called “tag runners.” Tag runners typically include a plastic substrate having a series of posts that receive apertures of respective ear tags to maintain a position of the ear tags relative to one another during packaging and shipment to the end user. For example, a tag runner may include eight (8) posts that are spaced apart from one another and extend along the substrate of the tag runner. In the foregoing example, each post receives an aperture of an individual ear tag to maintain the proper sequence of eight (8) individual ear tags up and until the ear tags are removed from the tag runner by the end user.
While conventional tag runners adequately maintain a desired sequence of the ear tags prior to installation on an animal, such tag runners add to the overall cost and complexity associated with manufacturing the ear tags. Specifically, tag runners are conventionally formed from a plastic material and must be separately formed from the ear tags themselves. Therefore, tag runners not only increase material costs but also require development and maintenance of tooling required to manufacture the tag runners. Further, assembly of the individual tags to the tag runners must be performed following formation of the individual tags and, as a result, increases the number of steps required to manufacture and package the ear tags.
In addition to increasing manufacturing cost and complexity, tag runners also negatively impact the environment, as most are discarded following removal and installation of the ear tags. While the material used in manufacturing the tag runners is typically recyclable, recycling tag runners requires individual end users to properly coordinate such efforts and requires recycling companies to consume energy when converting the discarded tag runners into a useable product or re-useable material. In short, while tag runners adequately maintain a desired sequence of individual ear tags, such tag runners increase the cost and complexity of manufacturing and packaging ear tags and, further, are typically discarded or otherwise require recycling following installation of the ear tags on an animal.